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The Winding Trail Synopsis

In order to avenge the disgrace and subsequent death of her sister, New York theatrical star Audrey Graham joins an 1870's caravan bound for the Western town of Silver Bar, where Alvin Steele, the man who betrayed Audrey's sister, now lives. The homesteaders run out of supplies and are dying of thirst on the parched Western plains when they reach the hideout of an outlaw named Zachary Wando. Zachary at first refuses them water, but Audrey, disguised as a child, melts his heart and he relents. After learning of Audrey's deception, however, he threatens to hold her captive unless she brings Steele, with whom his wife Lou is having an affair, to his camp. Audrey locates Steele, captivates him with her beauty, and then leads him to Zachary, who gives Lou a gun and orders her to choose between them. Lou shoots Steele and is then reconciled to her husband, while Audrey returns to New York, her desire for vengeance satisfied.

The Ploughshare Synopsis

By the death of his father, old Judge Lawrence, William Lawrence inherits the family's vast Southern estates. The slaves welcome him as their new master, but they all dislike "little Jim," William's half-brother, who is left by the father in William's guardianship. Twenty years elapse, and William is elected governor of his state. Little Jim has grown to young manhood, but with the passage of the years, his nature has become worse. It is discovered that Jim has had a secret intrigue with Jenny Strong, a simple country girl, who implores him to keep his promise and make her his wife. Meanwhile, she has kept all knowledge of what has transpired from her brother, Jack. At the state capital are two important families, the Leighs and the Claytons. Evelyn Clayton has fallen deeply in love with Jim Lawrence. William Lawrence has met and fallen in love with Helena Leigh. Arthur Willet, a friend of both families, who has had from the first an instinctive dislike for Jim Lawrence, overhears Jim talking with Jenny Strong. Later, at the home of the Leighs, he comes upon Jim making love to Helena. He thereupon tells her father how he has heard Jenny Strong pleading with Jim to right the wrong he has done her. Dr. Leigh drives Jim from his house. There follows a violent quarrel between Helena and her father, during which the doctor falls to the floor, overcome by heart trouble. On his deathbed he begs Helena to marry the governor. Helena consents because it is her father's dying wish, though she fancies herself in love with Jim. Strong discovers the trouble with his sister and determines to get satisfaction. To revenge the exposition of his guilt, Jim writes to Willet to fight a duel with him. Willet, who is a crack shot, accepts and leaves to indulge in a little practice. Jack comes upon Jim, and before he has finished talking, Jim shoots him with one of Willet's pistols. Willet is accused of the crime and is placed in jail. Jenny takes her own life and an unsuccessful appeal is made for Willet by Curwood, a political leader and uncle of the accused. Moved by Helena's pleadings, Jim confesses to his brother, but still maintains that he committed the murder in self-defense. His brother, the governor, pending the arrival of the sheriff, locks Jim in a room, but he is released by Helena, who, having taken two horses from the stable, rides away with him. Inasmuch as the governor had been to the stable, and seeing that he is accused of intrigue, he says that he did spirit his brother away. He resigns, and Helena, who realizes that she is the cause of her husband's downfall, declares herself in court as the accomplice in the murderer's escape. Helena, now that she is to be indicted in her husband's place and being cognizant of his great love, which she feels is lost forever, is about to commit suicide when her husband appears and tells her that the law has been satisfied by the death of Jim, whom they have learned was drowned in South America. The governor and his wife are reconciled.